Chin Mee Chin @ East Coast Road

I miss Red House along East Coast Road..
I miss skipping in holding my Mom's hand...
I miss staring at the plastic wedding figurines through the glass panels of the wooden cabinets and wondering if anyone these days still used such obiang figurines.
I miss watching the old uncle count using the abacus..
I miss their old school cream cakes.

Till the day it was torn down, there was a bit of history lost there. Newspapers say the proprietors have no successors to take over.  I honestly never quite found yet another place to replace this missing chunk. Till today, the same old Red House I am familiar with is still undergoing renovation, or at least the barricades seem to suggest.


The only other nostalgic cafe left in East Coast, it was Sunday brunch with the old fogies at CMC, exactly two weeks after Toast Box that was a bolt of overpriced nostalgia.

Plastic cabinets left ajar with over-washed and scratchy silver trays of goodies. These get snatched up so fast, there is barely enough time for a housefly to even hover. Egg Tarts, Luncheon meat buns, chocolate cupcakes, butter cupcakes, raisin buns and cream puffs are just CMC staples.

It could be the mismatch that makes CMC so charming.

Packed to the brim though seating capacity is really limited.

Milk Tea and Coffee for the morning perk me up. The auntie probably had a quarrel with her hubby and stirred in too much condensed milk.

A must-have, kaya toast! I prefer their version of toasted bun with homemade kaya and a slice of SCS butter to the other interpretations of crispy wafer thin toasts.

A plate of almost everything that CMC has to offer. When I was a young girl of six, these were already there. The only constant is change..for CMC, only their prices change. Priced at 90 cents each, this is as cheap as history gets.

Luncheon Meat Bun! The best combination of bread with Ma Ling Luncheon Meat. Soft bread with a slight chewy texture...I figure all the Paris baguettes have spoilt the tastebuds much, this used to be my kind of chewy bread but these seemed a little softer now.

Cinnamon raisin bun...deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelish.

Move over Tampopo, meet the grand ole dame from CMC. This came from an era where cream puffs had daffodil coloured custard within limp puffs. Like my crazed molten egg yolk custard pau, the custard does a waltz spilling out of the puff. Stopping at one should never be allowed.

Using the same custard filling, these are poured into tart cups and baked to a lovely brown. Like a biscuit, these are perfect tea time partners.

Like Lin Heung Tea House of Hongkong, I find CMC's charm so very irresistible.

Chin Mee Chin, please don't go...ever. You are the only connection I have with yesteryears...

Chin Mee Chin
East Coast Road